THE GROWTH WRITER PLAYBOOK

THE GROWTH WRITER PLAYBOOK Introduction This Playbook is a companion to the “Growth Writer Sales & Positioning Masterclass” which you should have access to in your customer portal. Think of this as your detailed notes and guidance to implement everything. Let’s talk about why you’re here for a moment. Chances are, you're here because you want to make a real living as a writer. Not just enough to cover your rent, ramen noodles, and Diet Coke budget. (I’m personally more of a Coke Zero guy, but that’s not the point.) The point is, you want to make the type of money that lets you work from anywhere, take vacations you actually enjoy, and not have that constant, low-grade panic about how much cash is in your bank account. It’s the type of money where your parents ask you if what you’re doing is legal or not, which is a sign you’re doing something right! This guide is designed to give you everything you need to go out into the world and make that happen. I’m not going to go into the intricacies of “How to write banger hooks” or “How to sell with stories” as that’s not the goal of this playbook. The goal is to show you how to ACTUALLY sell your services, because this is where so many freelance writers struggle. There is the service of freelance writing, and there is the business of freelance writing, and 50% of the business is getting clients, the other 50% is keeping the clients. Too often, I see talented creative people who get paralyzed with questions like how to set up an LLC, how to create a proper logo, how to create a business website, what domain to pick, etc. I’m not saying these things aren’t somewhat important, but they’re not nearly as important as your ability to find qualified prospects for your services, and turn them into loyal clients that are happy to pay you every single month because you’re making a real impact in their business. This playbook is all about how to position yourself as a “Growth Writer” instead of a “Freelance Writer.” People think that if you sell “Writing As A Service” (WAAS) you are destined to be broke or make a maximum of like $3,000 a month, forcing you to move to Thailand while working dead end gigs. Growth Writing is what will allow you to get ONE CLIENT to pay you $2,000 a month, $3,000 a month, $5,000 a month, and even as high as $7,000 a month. And it’s what will set you up to be able to go from freelancer to agency owner if you want. I’ve ran my own freelance writing business, I’ve ran my own agency, and I’ve helped a lot of people do the same. There are three “case studies” that prove my point here about the profitability of selling Growth Writing instead of Freelance Writing: * Anthony Carlton was a financial planner who went from $0 to $91,000 a month with what I showed him and he was able to build a lean team around him so he could serve more clients… * Clifton Sellers went from having zero experience in this realm and $0 made, to being able to build a business that does $1,000,000 a year and allowed him to be able to start building his forever home in Albama for his family… * Taylin Simmonds went from working a job in Canada as a music teacher making about $50,000 CAD a year (roughly $36,000 USD a year, yikes) to being able to take what I showed him, replace his income, and then build a small team that allowed him to scale to $501,000 a year with his agency. All three of these guys have one thing in common. They did not sell business owners writing. They did not sell them content. They did not sell them newsletters. They did not sell them blog posts. They sold them growth. The forms of writing they provided were just a “means to an end” for them to get the business owner the result they promised, which was growth. This is the fundamental shift I want you to understand, and if you took ONE THING from this playbook it should be this… “Business Owners do not care about writing, ghostwriting, or copywriting. They care about their bottom line, so they can increase revenue. They care about growing their personal brand, so they can increase lead flow, which results in more revenue.” A good friend of mine, I call him Mr. X because he prefers to remain anonymous, told me, “Nobody cares about your shiny shit.” And excuse my profanity (as a Canadian, I have to apologize on his behalf) but he is so right, business owners do not care about what you can do, they care about what the end result is that you get them. This small, but simple, change in how you position yourself and how you sell your services will make a world of a difference for your income. Think about it like this, if we take an airplane flying in a straight line and shift it 2 degrees to the left, within 5 minutes it’s in a completely different location, and within 5 hours it’s in a completely different part of the world. Now, it’s important to note that this isn’t some get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a real business model that requires real work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, the rewards are massive. I’m talking about freedom. Real freedom. The freedom to work when you want, where you want, with who you want. The freedom to tell your boss to shove it, and to never have to answer to anyone ever again. The freedom to take a month off to travel the world, or to spend more time with your family, or to just sit on your ass and do nothing at all but binge poorly written shows on Netflix if that’s your thing. This is not a pipe dream. This is not some fantasy. This is a real, achievable goal. And I'm going to show you exactly how to get there, step-by-step. I'm going to give you the entire playbook. The reason I’m doing this is because chances are, if you find this useful, you may be interested in getting more help. The Growth Writer Playbook shows you how to get clients, but my program Growth Ghost shows you how to deliver the services for your clients so you can get them results (how you keep clients), how to build your own personal brand so you can have clients coming to you, and how to streamline everything with our tools, resources, and AI frameworks. We also provide you with all of the support and coaching you need if you’re serious about making this work without wasting a ton of time on trial and error. You’re under no obligation to work with us, yet if you want to, we’ve already sent you information on how to go about doing that. I don’t want this guide to be a long winded pitch, I’d rather just give you a ton of value and you decide whether or not you want to go deeper with us. So let’s get started. Part 1: The Belief Shift At its core, being a Growth Writer means you’re a partner to your clients, not just a hired freelancer off of Fiverr or Upwork. You’re not just writing stuff for them, you’re using your words to help them make more money by increasing their level of influence. The service you provide is known as “Ghostwriting” but you shouldn’t explain it to clients their way. Pop quiz: Why? If you answered, because People Don’t Care About Your Shiny Shit (again, so sorry) you are 100% correct. You and I, we know that what we’re doing is Ghostwriting for a client. The client on the other hand, they don’t wake up in the morning thinking, man I really could use some Ghostwriting. But they do wake up thinking about revenue, lead flow, and ways to improve their marketing. Think about it. A regular freelance writer gets paid for their time or their words. They write a blog post, they get a payment. They write an email, they get a payment. The problem is, their income is directly tied to how much they can write. And there are only so many hours in the day. It’s a classic time-for-money trap. And it’s a trap that will keep you broke and miserable for the rest of your life. It’s a race to the bottom, and you’re competing with every other writer on the planet. Many of whom live in third world countries and will work for much less than you because their cost of living is so much lower than yours. A Growth Writer, on the other hand, gets paid for the results they create. They’re not just selling words, they’re selling a system. A system that helps their clients attract more customers, build deeper relationships, and ultimately, make more sales. And because they’re selling a system, they can charge a lot more money. We’re talking about retainers of $3,000, $5,000, even $7,000 a month. Per client. And that’s just the beginning. Most writers shoot themselves in the foot before a sales conversation even starts. They don't realize the actual value of what they're providing or more accurately, they're selling the wrong thing entirely. Let me show you what I mean. Imagine a business owner named Mark. Mark was a VC-backed software founder who exited his company after three years for $15 million. Now he consults with startup founders on how to become exit-ready by building the right foundations early. He sells software, educational products, consulting packages, and speaks on stages. If you put Mark in a room with a hundred software business owners, three to five of them would buy something from him, ranging from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand in consulting fees. Mark watches people like Hormozi tell him he needs to build a bigger personal brand. He knows they're right. But there are only so many hours in the day, and he understands he should be doing more of this, he just wants to find the right person to help him. Now here's where most freelance writers blow it. They approach Mark and say, "Hey, I can save you time and do this for you." The moment those words leave their mouth or that message gets sent, they've devalued themselves. Why? Because now Mark is comparing the cost of his time to the cost of yours. And Mark knows (based on his background, his exit, his track record) that he's worth more per hour than you are. The value exchange is not in your favor. You've already lost. You’re selling your time and unfortunately, Mark does not value your time to the degree that you do! This is how you get stuck with low paying clients. A Growth Writer approaches Mark differently. They say, "Hey, I can produce content for you that helps you build your influence in your industry so you can get more leads and more customers." Now the value exchange flips. Mark knows that if he gets a hundred customers into his low-ticket course, two of them will convert into high-end consulting clients at $5,000 to $20,000. Several will attend his bootcamp at $1,000. Many will talk about how amazing the product is online, sending him even more business. Mark is far more interested in this conversation. Because you're selling him what he actually wants. Yes, Mark wants to save time. But he wants to make money more than he wants to save time. That's why he works 12 to 14 hours a day. He's not afraid of putting time into his business, he's afraid of putting time into the wrong things. But here's the part almost no one talks about… Mark has something called unconscious competence. He's so good at what he does that he doesn't even understand everything he understands. On consulting calls, someone asks him a question and BOOM, he just knows the answer. He's never been asked that specific question before, but the answer comes out of his mouth like he's said it a thousand times. And just like that, POOF, it's gone. He won't remember it. If you’re an expert in any area of expertise, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Mark is tapping into a reservoir of knowledge and pattern recognition built over years of being in business. It's all in his head. But when Mark sits down to "produce content," all he can think is: “Uhhh…I made $15 million from that exit? Maybe I’ll write a post about that.” Mark doesn't need a writer. He needs a channeler. Someone who can interview him, extract his wisdom, and convert it into the written word in a way that's powerful and consumable by an audience. Someone who can pull the insights out of his head that he doesn't even know he has, and turn them into content that builds his influence. This is even more valuable than saving time. Because it allows Mark to share his wisdom with the marketplace at scale. And sharing wisdom is what creates influence, the ability to get someone to listen to what you have to say, or do what you tell them to do. There's a legendary music producer you may have heard of named Rick Rubin. He's produced for artists like Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Adele, the Beastie Boys, Tom Petty, Metallica, and dozens more. The man has shaped the sound of multiple generations. There's an amazing interview with him on 60 Minutes where Anderson Cooper asks if he knows how to play any instruments. Rick's response was, "I have no technical ability, and I know nothing about music." Anderson Cooper laughs and says, "Well, you must know something." To which Rick responded, "I know what I like and what I don't like. And I'm decisive about what I like and what I don't like." Anderson Cooper leans forward. "So what are you being paid for?" Rick closes his eyes, pauses, and delivers one of the most genius sentences I've ever heard. "The confidence that I have in my taste, and my ability to express what I feel, has proven helpful for artists." That's it. That's the core essence of what you're doing as a Growth Writer, but not with music. With business. I'm going to make an assumption about you right now. You're reading this, which means you probably like to read. You like content. You like listening to thought leaders. You enjoy wisdom. You consume ideas for fun. Your taste is more valuable to a business owner than you think. Here's the unfortunate truth about many business owners: they can't get outside of their own head. They're so deep in their expertise that they view everything at ten times the level of complexity that their ideal customer actually thinks. They overcomplicate. They use jargon. They assume knowledge their audience doesn't have. Having a muse, in this case, a Growth Writer…someone to extract what's going on in their head and format it in a way that's digestible by the general public and their ideal audience? That's insanely valuable. But here's the problem…most people who sell writing as a service don't view it this way. They've got all sorts of limiting beliefs about their value. They can't even bring themselves to ask for $5,000 a month. Or $3,000 a month. Sometimes not even $1,500. Part of this is that they go after the wrong clients. But the other part, the bigger part, is that they don't understand the value they're providing. And I need you to really hear this, because what I'm about to say might sting a little. If you're struggling to land clients, or you're landing clients but they're paying you garbage rates, the problem isn't the market. It's not the economy. It's not AI. It's not that "nobody values writers anymore." The problem is you don't value you. And I don't mean that in some woo-woo, look-in-the-mirror-and-say-affirmations kind of way. I mean it in a very practical, dollars-and-cents way. You have been conditioned, by the market, by platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, by other freelancers, by clients who didn't know any better…to believe that writing is a commodity. That writing is cheap. And because you believe that, you act like it. You price like it. You pitch like it. You position yourself like it. You walk into conversations already defeated, already overthinking your rates, already bracing for the negotiation where you get talked down to half of what you wanted. Here's the truth: the client can smell that on you! They can feel it in your emails. They can hear it in your voice on calls. They can see it in the way you present your services. And when they sense that you don't believe you're worth $3,000 a month, why on earth would they believe it? They won't. So they offer you $500. Or $750. Or maybe $1,200 if you're lucky. And you take it, because something is better than nothing, right? Wrong. Something is not better than nothing when that something keeps you trapped. When that something eats up your time serving a client who doesn't respect you, leaving you no bandwidth to go find the clients who would. When that something becomes the anchor that keeps you stuck at the bottom of the ocean while you watch other writers, writers who aren't even as talented as you, swim past you to the surface. The game is not about talent. I wish it were. If it were about talent, the best writers would be the richest writers, and we both know that's not how it works.The game is about positioning. It's about perception. It's about walking into a room, or a DM, or an email thread, or a Zoom call, and conducting yourself like someone who solves expensive problems. Because that's what you do. You solve expensive creative problems. Think about it like this… Gary Vee, built a fortune for himself because of content. Because of his ability to spread influence at scale. VaynerMedia, his full-service digital agency, has done over $300 million in revenue. VaynerX is the holding company for his media and communications businesses. VaynerSports is a sports agency representing NFL and other professional athletes. He built Empathy Wines and later sold it. He launched VeeFriends, an NFT project that generated over $90 million in its initial release. Gallery Media Group owns publications like PureWow and ONE37pm. He was an early investor in Coinbase, Uber, Facebook, Twitter, and Venmo, investments that made him millions. He's sold millions of copies of his books, and with one of his most recent books, he sold over a million copies in 24 hours. He would not have been able to do any of that without his influence. Without his content. And I know Gary would say, because he has said it repeatedly, that his content is the reason why he's been able to produce such a ridiculous amount of wealth for himself. Now, you might be thinking, "Sure, but Gary sells content. He's in the content business. Of course content works for him." Fair point. So let's look at someone who has nothing to do with the content industry. His name is Anton Kreil. Anton is a former Goldman Sachs trader. He's not a content creator. He's not a marketer. He's a finance guy who spent years on trading floors making money for himself and the firm. But at some point, he had a guy follow him around, interview him on various topics, and document the whole thing. They turned it into a series called "10 Secrets to Achieve Financial Success." That series got 2.7 million views. And now? His training programs at The Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management are packed. Every single cohort he opens up, he fills. Seminars full of aspiring traders who want to learn from him. Anton didn't become a content creator. He let someone extract his wisdom and put it in front of the world. And it changed his business forever. I'm showing you all these examples, Gary Vee, Anton Kreil, Mark the software founder, to hammer in one point. What you do for a client has the potential to completely change their financial destiny. Not just help them a little. Not just save them some time. Not just get them a few extra likes on LinkedIn. You can be the catalyst for a transformation in their business and their life. And you should charge accordingly. But you can only do this if you position yourself properly. If you walk in the door as a "freelance writer looking for work," you'll get freelance writer rates. If you walk in as someone who builds influence and drives revenue, you'll get paid like it. That's what Growth Writing is all about. Part 2: The 3 Mental “Sales Barriers” Which Hold You Back Before we can talk about how to sell, we need to talk about what stops most writers from ever seeing success in sales in the first place. We already handled the biggest one, which is the belief shift. Understanding that what you're selling is genuinely valuable. That you're not hawking words, you're offering revenue at a discount, influence at scale, and extracted wisdom that the client couldn't produce on their own. If you don't believe that, nothing else I teach you will work. So make sure that's locked in before you move forward. But there are other mental barriers that will sabotage you if you don't address them head on. Let me walk you through them. Barrier #1: You Think Sales Is Annoying This is the first thing I see with freelance writers who are struggling. They're scared or nervous to go out and sell themselves. And honestly, I get it. It's intimidating. There's a lot of rejection that comes with it. But here's the truth of the matter. If you want to get to $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 and beyond in monthly revenue from your writing business, you need to understand that sales is a non-negotiable part of the process. There is no such thing as a writer who makes money without selling themselves. Even people who write fiction have to sell. Tom Clancy had to sell himself to get book deals, to get publishing fees, to land speaking tours. That's fiction. If you're in the business of writing for other people and other businesses, you absolutely have to be comfortable putting yourself out there. The issue is that most people view sales as pestering someone. Bothering them. Being annoying. And because they believe that, they either don't do it at all, or they do it in a way that feels half-hearted and apologetic, which makes them come across exactly the way they're afraid of coming across. Here's what I need you to understand. Sales is not bothering anyone. Most people will just ignore you if they're not interested, and that's totally fine. You're not trying to trick anyone into anything. You're just looking for the right people that you can actually help. And when you find them, what you do is help them. That's it. You're not a pest. You're a problem solver looking for people with a problem you can solve. Barrier #2: You Expect It To Happen Overnight The second barrier is about timelines. Most people don't realize this when they get into freelancing because they don't come from a sales background, but there is a sales cycle to things. Someone may not be ready to work with you today, but they will be ready in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, maybe even six months from now. People don't realize this, but the carousels at a festival or a fair, the way they used to work is that you stayed on the carousel for long enough until a brass ring would drop down. Whoever grabbed the brass ring could take it to the person running the ride and win a prize, a teddy bear or something like that. But here's the thing. If you get on the carousel, wait 10 seconds, and then hop off, you're never going to get the brass ring. You have to stay on for long enough until it drops. That is one of the best metaphors for sales I've ever heard. The person who stays on the carousel long enough is the one who eventually has the perfect deal land right in their hands. You cannot expect that on day one of reaching out to businesses, on day one of trying to get clients, you're going to sign ten people and become a millionaire overnight. That's just not how it works. If it did, I'd already be on a yacht somewhere, and so would you. But that's not reality. What most people do, and this is a huge mistake, is they get started and then they hop off the carousel way too early. If you are actually committed to making this your full-time thing, to generating $15,000 or $20,000 a month doing this, you have to make a commitment. And I want you to make that commitment with me right now. Commit to doing outreach for the next six months. I know six months feels like a long time. But here's the thing. Time is going to pass whether you decide to take action or not. Six months from now, you're going to be six months older regardless. The only question is whether you'll have a thriving writing business at the end of it or whether you'll still be in the same spot you're in right now, wishing you had started. If you have more time to dedicate to this, you'll get better results. If you have less time because you're working a job or have other obligations, it's not that you won't get results, it's just that you'll get fewer results because this is an input game. But regardless of your situation, you have to commit to six months of consistent action. Think about it like a rocket taking off into the atmosphere. Ninety percent of the fuel is used in the initial phases just to break through the resistance and get off the ground. Once you're up there, it gets easier. But you have to push through that initial phase first. I know there are plenty of online gurus who will tell you that you can make a million dollars in 30 days or less. I'm trying to be honest with you. That's not how this works. It takes time. It takes dedication. Just like anything worth having. But the rewards are so worth it. You get to travel wherever you want. You get to make money on your own schedule. You have complete control over your time. You get to do something you actually enjoy, assuming you like writing, which I'm guessing you do since you're reading this. And once you get through that initial phase, this business is fun. It's not that complicated. But you have to stay on the carousel long enough to grab the brass ring. Barrier #3: You're Selling The Wrong Thing To The Wrong People The third barrier is that most writers don't charge what they should because they don't see the value of what they do. They charge a couple hundred bucks a month, or they work on an hourly rate that keeps them stuck in the time-for-money trap. And this is because they're selling the wrong thing. We already covered this in detail, but it's worth repeating here because it's so important. Business owners don't actually want to buy a writer. They don't want to buy a freelance writer or a ghostwriter. That's not what they're trying to purchase. Business owners are trying to purchase a result. An end outcome. And when you sell the end outcome, it becomes easy to charge more for it. People don't want to buy writing, just like nobody wants to buy a car. People buy a car because they want to get from point A to point B. They want to look cool. They want to impress someone. They want the feeling of freedom that comes with being able to go wherever they want. Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, "Man, I really want to purchase an automobile today." They wake up thinking about what the automobile will do for them. Here's another way to think about it. People don't want to buy a nail and a hammer, or even a nail in the wall. They want to buy a portrait hanging up in their home. But who actually wants a portrait hanging up? Someone who wants their home to feel warm. Someone who wants to display memories. Someone who wants to feel a certain way when they walk through their living room. This is what's really important. You can sell an end outcome, but if the person doesn't actually need what you're talking about, they're not going to want to buy it. You can't build desire in someone. You can only channel desire that already exists. So it's about going after the right types of business owners. People who already have money. People who can afford to spend $2,000 or $3,000 a month with you because they're already making $50,000 or $100,000 a month or more. For them, it's easy to justify your rates because of what you're providing. You can't go sell ghostwriting to a small ice cream shop because they don't need that. You can't sell it to a holistic health practitioner who's barely making ends meet. You have to sell the right thing to the right person. If you understand these three things, that sales is not annoying, that you have to stay on the carousel long enough to see results, and that you have to sell the right thing to the right people, you will be able to break through the barriers that keep most writers stuck and start building the business you actually want Part 3: The Growth Writer Outreach Strategy Now that you understand the belief shift and the mental barriers that hold most writers back, it's time to talk about how to actually go out and get clients. This is where the rubber meets the road. The first thing you need to understand is that sales is an input and output game. It's just basic math. You put in a certain number of inputs, you reach out to a certain number of people, and you get a certain number of outputs in return. Some of those people will ignore you. Some will say no. Some will say not right now. And some will say yes. The more inputs you put in, the more outputs you get. Kinda. Most people screw this up because they think about inputs in a vacuum. They don’t realize that a sales input (cold email, cold DM, etc.) is only worth your time if it has a high likelihood of landing you a client. You know what has an extremely low likelihood of landing you a client? Sending out a generic “cold email blast” for the sake of cranking up sales inputs. Even if you use the positioning I talked about earlier, even if you call yourself a Growth Writer, if you're just blasting generic messages to thousands of people, you're not going to get good results. You might get some responses here and there, but they're not going to be high quality, and the sale will be incredibly difficult. This approach will also just demotivate you after a while because you're putting in all this effort and getting almost nothing back. The reason this method didn’t work is because it’s low effort. If you’re serious about making this work, if you want to make a 6-figure income as a Growth Writer, you need to stop thinking about shortcuts. Let me save you the time. None of the short cuts work. It’s all a bunch of BS from guru marketers trying to get you to buy their stuff and sell you a dream. I want to tell you the truth because I want you to get results. The truth is, the more effort you put in, the higher chance you have of making this work out for you. This is because where you put your “care” or your “effort” is like planting seeds. I’m not super religious, but I am very spiritual. I’ve only started now getting more into The Bible, and I’m not the type of person to beat people over the head with religion. So I’d like to share this Parable from the Bible with you, not to try and convert you, but because I’ve found it to be universally true in every endeavor I’ve taken on. The parable goes like this. A farmer went out to sow seeds. Some seeds fell by the wayside, on the path, and they never grew at all. Birds came and ate them. Some seeds fell on rocky ground where there wasn't much soil. They sprouted quickly, but when the sun came up, they withered because they had no roots. Some seeds fell among thorns, and when the plant started to grow, the thorns choked them and they died. But some seeds fell on good soil. And those seeds produced a crop, ten times, twenty times, thirty times what was planted. Think about the seeds as your time and effort… Most people throw their seeds by the wayside. They waste their time on things that don't matter at all. They're scrolling TikTok. They're scrolling Instagram. They're watching shows on Netflix. They're doing everything except the thing that would actually move the needle in their business. And what happens? Nothing grows. Their time just disappears. Then there are people who throw their seeds on rocky ground. These are people who are now putting time into growing their freelance writing business, but they're putting it into things that don't work. These are people who are now doing outreach, but the way they're doing it is so transactional that it gets choked out immediately. They send generic messages. They don't provide any value. They just ask, ask, ask. And the business owner immediately thinks, "Get out of here.” Then there are people who throw their seeds among the thorns. These are the people who never follow up. They send the first message, maybe even a good one, and then they disappear. They assume if someone didn't respond right away, they're not interested. They don't realize that people are busy, that timing matters, that someone who ignores you today might be ready to buy in 30 days. So the seeds start to grow, but then the thorns choke them out because there's no follow through. But the people who throw their seeds on good soil, the people who reach out to the right prospects with personalized highly valuable outreachmessages, those people see a harvest. Ten times, twenty times, thirty times what they put in. That's what I'm trying to show you here. The outreach strategy I'm going to teach you is about planting seeds in good soil. It takes more effort per seed, yes. But the harvest is so much greater than anything you'd get from the spray and pray approach! When you send generic outreach messages, the person on the other end can tell you didn't do any research on them. They can feel that you're just copying and pasting the same thing to a hundred other people. When you say "Hey, I could help you grow your personal brand," it doesn't feel tailored to them at all. It feels like spam. And people delete spam. It is better for you to send 100 deep, high quality, researched messages than it is for you to send 10,000 generic ones. Every single time, the personalized approach outperforms the mass approach. Every single time. A high quality message means you actually did your research. You looked at their brand. You looked at their content. You made sure you'd actually want to write for them. And then you provide something to them that shows you put in the baseline effort to understand who they are and what they need. This is where the law of reciprocity comes into play. The law of reciprocity is simple. When you give something to someone, by nature, they want to give you something back. In this case, their time. And in some cases, even their money. When you reach out to someone with something valuable, something that shows you actually did your homework, you immediately separate yourself from all the grifters and askers online. You know what I'm talking about. You've seen it on LinkedIn. "Hey, I'd like to connect." "Hey, do you want to connect?" "Hey, I can help you." It's all taking. Nobody is giving anything. When you give first, you stand out. You become memorable. You become someone worth responding to. I’ll show you what to give them here in a moment, but let’s first start with what a high quality outreach message actually looks like. First, and I cannot stress this enough, you need to do your research. Look at their LinkedIn. Look at their Twitter. Look at their website. Look at their content. Understand what they talk about, who they serve, what they sell, and what their goals seem to be. If they've done any interviews or podcasts, watch them. Get a sense of who this person is and what they care about. Second, your message needs to be direct. Don't try to build fake rapport. This is a mistake I see all the time. Someone sees that a business owner is a Texas Longhorns fan, and they send a message like, "Hey John, saw you were a Texas Longhorns fan. I also love the Texas Longhorns, screw the Sooners, I really like football too." What does that look like? It looks like someone who's just trying to sell me something and masking it like they're not. It's manipulative. It doesn't build trust. It destroys trust. Instead, just get to the point. Something like, "Hey John, was checking out your profile and I really enjoyed reading about the methods you use to grow SaaS companies. The post last week on Affiliates was epic. I’m sure you know that if you put out more high quality content like that, you would be able to grow your personal brand and reach more people so you can get more people inside of SaaS Academy. I hope this is okay, but I went ahead and…" We’ll cover what to send them in a second, but first, do you see the difference? You're not pretending to be their friend. You're not faking rapport. You're being direct about what you want and why you're reaching out, and you're providing value upfront. That brings me to the third piece, which is the value add. What do you actually send them? This is the part that separates the writers who sign clients from the writers who stay broke. You send them free work. I know, I know. A lot of people don't want to hear that. I’ve heard it a thousand times, "I don't want to do free work. I only want people who are ready to buy." And that's just not reality for most people. If you have a huge brand like Alex Hormozi, sure, you could offer your services and 1000 people would reach out, but that’s not you more than likely. It’s like saying, "I don't want to go on any dates with this girl. I just want her to marry me." If you’re Brad Pitt, sure, that works, but if you’re a manlet like me, that doesn't work! The reason most people resist doing this is because it takes time and effort. But here's the thing. When you write some sample tweets for them, some LinkedIn posts, some email ideas, some Instagram scripts, some YouTube video concepts, all based on their brand and their voice, and you send that over to them, something magical happens. They see that you're not just another person asking for something. You're someone who actually put in the work. You're someone who gets it. You're someone who could genuinely help them. And that separates you from literally everyone else reaching out to them. Almost nobody does this! And the ones who do, put together awful work. And that's exactly why this method works so well when you do it right. When someone sees your first message and realizes you researched their brand, put together a whole list of content ideas, wrote sample posts in their voice, and you're just giving it to them for free, they're going to think, "This person is different. This person actually cares. This person would crush it if I hired them." Now, sending the initial message is only the beginning. What happens after that is just as important. We don’t want to plant our seeds among the thorns, we want to make sure they actually have room to grow! We do this by doing follow up. Most people either don't follow up at all, or they send really stupid follow ups. They send memes. They send "Just checking in." They send fake rapport building nonsense. And it just comes off as annoying. It's exactly what they were afraid of being in the first place. Here's what actually works for follow up. Expand on the value you already provided. If you sent them sample content in your first message, send them more content in your follow up. Explain how what you created would benefit their business. Add to the document. Show them you're still thinking about them and their needs. Keep giving. "Hey John, I just went ahead and wrote a few more posts for you based on that interview you did last week. I thought these angles might resonate with your audience. Hope this is helpful." That's it. No memes. No "just bumping this to the top of your inbox." No fake pleasantries. Just more value. They saw your message, they just didn’t want to respond. If you do this consistently for 3 months with a prospect, you would have a Google Doc filed with 100+ posts in there. When they need to hire a writer, without a doubt, they’re going to think of you first! Or, when one of their friends needs a writer, they’re going to think of you first for the referral. In order to not get lost with all of your outreach messages, you need to track everyone you reach out to. The easiest way to do this is to get a free account on Trello. When you prospect for potential clients and find someone that could be a good fit, make a card for them underneath a bucket titled, “Prospects.” Put the link to their profile and any notes you have about them and their business. When you send your first message move their card to a bucket titled, “Outreach” and then when you send your first follow up message a week later, move them to “Follow Up.” Then you can drag the card through different stages as the relationship progresses. Got response. Scheduled call. Closed deal. Whatever stages make sense for you. This is so simple, and it works. The best part is, the more time you put into it, the more it works. This is why I recommend doing this for an extended period of time because you're not just sending messages into a void. You're building a Rolodex. Every person you reach out to is someone you're going to follow up with. And that Rolodex keeps growing and growing and growing. After three months of consistent outreach, you might have 200 or 300 people you're in contact with. After six months, you might have 500 or more. And every single week, you're following up with all of them, adding more value, staying top of mind. So how much time should you dedicate to this? Just make a rule. Decide how much time you're going to dedicate every single day, and then do it. It's better to start with a smaller amount that you can reasonably handle and build up confidence with, and then slowly but surely grow that over time. If you can only do 30 minutes a day right now, do 30 minutes a day. Once that becomes easy, bump it up to 45 minutes. Then an hour. Then more if you can. You also want to dedicate time to each part of the process. Dedicate time for prospecting and finding potential clients. Dedicate time for putting together those value adds for your prospects. Dedicate time to actually sending your outreach messages. And dedicate time to following up with everyone you've already reached out to. I would rather someone do this for one hour every single day for three months than someone do six hours one day and then get lazy and slowly but surely within two weeks they're not doing any outreach at all. Consistency beats intensity, every single time. You can't expect results right away. In fact, 80% of the people that respond to you will respond on your follow ups, not your initial message. And I know it may be demotivating when you've poured 10 hours into this and haven't gotten a response yet. But here's the thing. You will get responses and you will book calls. It's inevitable. You're playing the numbers game and you're sending high quality messages. It's only a matter of time. But here's how I want you to think about this so you stay motivated...you’re not doing this for free, you’re actually paying yourself in advance! Let's say it takes you 100 outreach messages before you sign your first client. And that client pays you $3,000 a month. That means you got paid $30 for every single message you sent. You just got paid after the fact instead of upfront. And then on top of that, when we get to the section on keeping clients, you'll see how to get it so that every single month you're billing them for $3,000. That $3,000 client stays with you for six months, that's $18,000 from one client. Now you got paid $180 per message that you sent. But here's where it gets really interesting. What you'll see from those 100 outreach messages, when you keep following up with everyone, eventually you'll sign two or three more clients from that same batch of prospects. Now you're getting paid $300 to $500 for every single outreach message you sent. This is the way to think about it. This is what will keep you motivated when the results aren't showing up immediately. You're not working for free. You're building an asset. You're planting seeds that will pay you over and over and over again. So that's the system. Work the system and you will book calls. I guarantee it. In fact, I'm so confident in this that I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. If you send 1,000 new messages and you're not able to sign $10,000 worth of business, I will personally pay you $10,000. Now, here’s the stipulations: You do everything I told you in this section. You send daily messages, you keep track of everything, you produce highly valuable samples of work for clients, you follow up with each prospect a minimum of 7 times. Obviously, the reason I can make this guarantee is because the math just works in my favor and yours too! If you send out 1,000 messages and put real time and effort into your samples and your follow up, if just 2% of people respond to you, that's 20 responses. Let's say nine of those people book calls with you. And four of those people sign up with you for $3,000 a month. That's $12,000 a month in recurring revenue. Obviously, it's going to work well before you hit 1000 outreach attempts. I would be shocked if anyone ever reaches out to me for this guarantee. But I'm making it so you know that I know what I'm talking about here, will work for you. You just have to do the work. Now to wrap things up, let’s talk about how to make sure your outreach is actually landing in the prospect’s lap so you’re not wasting your time. There are a few different channels you can use to reach out to people. LinkedIn DMs, X DMs, Instagram DMs, and email. Each one has its pros and cons, and the best approach depends on where your ideal client spends their time. LinkedIn is usually the best place to start for most Growth Writers because that's where business owners and executives hang out. They're already in a professional mindset when they're on LinkedIn. They're used to getting pitched there, which means they're also used to filtering out garbage pitches. So when you come in with something personalized and valuable, you stand out even more. X is great if your ideal client is active there. A lot of founders, creators, and thought leaders are very active on X and actually respond to DMs. The culture there is a bit more casual, so your messages can be a little less formal. But the same principles apply. Do your research, be direct, provide value. Instagram works well for certain niches, especially if your ideal client is in the coaching, consulting, or personal brand space. A lot of these people are very active on Instagram and check their DMs regularly. Email is the most effective if you can find the person's email address. The benefit of email is that it doesn't get buried in a social media inbox that they might not check very often. The downside is that it can get buried or you can land in spam. Here's my recommendation. Use everything. Don't limit yourself to one channel. When you send your initial outreach message, send it to every platform you can find them on. LinkedIn, X, Instagram, email. All of it. And then when you follow up, follow up on all of those platforms too. Every single time. Here's why this works so well. When you hit someone on multiple platforms, you're forcing them to notice you. They see your name pop up in their LinkedIn inbox. Then they see it in their email. Then they see it on X. Now you're not just some random person who messaged them once. You're someone who's clearly serious about getting their attention. And when they finally do open one of those messages and see the value you've put together for them, they're going to be impressed. The other reason this works is because of how these platforms handle messages. Sometimes you'll land in their primary inbox. Sometimes you'll land in their message requests folder. It varies from profile to profile and platform to platform. You just don't know where you're going to end up. And yes, people do check their message requests, but you don't know when they're going to check it. Could be today. Could be three weeks from now. So it just makes a ton of sense to hit them on everything because you're going to land in the primary inbox on something. Now here's the thing you have to keep in mind. Nobody is going to respond to you if you don't look professional. When someone gets your message, the first thing they're going to do is click on your profile. They want to see who this person is that's reaching out to them. And what they see in that moment is going to determine whether they take you seriously or not. If they click on your Instagram profile and it's you with a bunch of your friends drinking, looking irresponsible, they're not going to take you seriously. If your email address is HotWheelRacer215@gmail.com, they're going to laugh at your message, and probably won't respond. If they click on your LinkedIn and you have zero followers, zero posts, and a blank profile with no headshot, they're going to assume you're either a bot or someone who's not serious about what they do. You need to treat your social media like a business card. Actually put the effort into making it look professional. Have a clean headshot, you can even use AI to help you with this. Have some content on your profile that demonstrates you know what you're talking about. It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to have a massive following. But it has to look like you're a real professional who takes their work seriously. Now, you may not know how to do that. That's okay. That's actually what we teach inside of our program, Growth Ghost. We show you how to build your own personal brand so that when people click on your profile, they're impressed. We also show you how to actually deliver on the services so you can grow other people's personal brands too. Because here's the thing, by understanding how to grow your own brand, you'll know how to grow other people's brands. It's the same skill set. So that's everything for the outreach system. Do your research. Be direct. Provide value. Follow up consistently. Hit them on every platform you can find. Make sure your profiles look professional. And do it for six months. If you do that, you will book calls. You will sign clients. It's inevitable. Now let's talk about what happens when someone actually responds and wants to get on a call with you. Part 4: Response Handling So someone responded to your outreach. Now what? First, let's talk about what to expect. Most people aren't going to respond to your first message and say, "Yes, I'm available Friday at 2pm to talk." That's just not how it works. What's more likely is they'll respond with something like, "Tell me a little bit more about this" or "Who else are you working with?" or "What exactly do you offer?" This is a good thing. It means you caught their attention. They're engaged. They're interested enough to ask questions. Don't panic and don't over explain. Your job now is to give them just enough information to satisfy their curiosity while moving them toward a call. Here's the key principle for this entire chapter. Every response you send should be focused on one thing: getting them on a call. Sales happen in conversation, not in text. Text is flat. Calls are dynamic. On a call, you can hear their tone, ask follow up questions, understand what they actually need, and build real rapport. None of that happens over DM or email. So no matter what they ask, your response should answer their question briefly and then redirect toward a call. If they ask about pricing, you can say something like, "It really depends on what you need, but most of my clients pay between $2,000 and $5,000 a month depending on the scope. Happy to walk you through everything on a quick call. What does your schedule look like this week?" If they ask what you offer, you can say, "I help business owners like you grow their personal brand and generate more leads through content. Every situation is a little different though, so I'd love to hop on a quick call and learn more about what you're trying to accomplish. Would sometime this week work for you?" Give them enough to stay interested. Create some curiosity. But don't give them so much that they feel like they have all the answers. You want them to want to get on the call. When it comes to actually booking the call, I recommend suggesting a specific time. Don't just say, "Let me know when you're free." That puts all the work on them. Instead, say something like, "How about Thursday at 2pm?" Here's why this works. Most people have a general idea of what their calendar looks like. If you give them a specific time, they don't have to go digging through their schedule. They can just say yes or no. And here's the beautiful part. If they say no, they'll usually suggest an alternative time. Now you've got them engaged. Now you're having a conversation. Now you're moving toward the call. If they write back and say, "Thursday doesn't work for me, but how about Friday at 10am?" you've converted. You've got them engaged. That's a win. Now, let's talk about calendar links. You know those emails where someone says, "Here's a link to my calendar, find a time that works for you"? I personally find that offensive. And I'm not alone. A lot of high level business owners feel the same way. Think about it from their perspective. You're asking them for their time. You're the one who wants something from them. And instead of being respectful of their schedule, you're saying, "Hey, go find a time on my calendar where you can be sold to." It comes across as arrogant. It comes across as lazy. And for a lot of decision makers, it's an instant delete. Now, I know there are some people who love calendar links. They find them convenient. They'd rather just click and pick a time than go back and forth over email. So here's what I recommend. Give them options. Say something like, "How about we get together Thursday at 2pm? If that doesn't work, feel free to send me a time that does. Or if it's easier, here's a link to my calendar where you can see my availability." Now you're covering all your bases. The people who find calendar links offensive can just reply with a time. The people who love calendar links can click through. And either way, you're making it easy for them to say yes. One more thing on this. Always quote the time in their time zone, not yours. If you're in Mountain time and they're in Eastern, don't say "Thursday at 12pm." Say "Thursday at 2pm ET." It's a small thing, but it shows you're thinking about them, not just yourself. Once they agree to a call, make it as easy as possible for them to book. Send them your calendar link at this point, it's appropriate because they've already agreed to meet. Or give them a specific time and let them confirm. Before the call, do a little more research on them if you haven't already. Look at their recent content. Look at what they're promoting. Look at what's going on in their business right now. The more context you have going into the call, the better the conversation will be. And then show up on time. This seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people are late to sales calls or miss them entirely. If you want someone to trust you with their brand, you need to demonstrate that you're reliable. Showing up on time, prepared, and ready to go is the first step in building that trust. Part 5: How To Run Sales Calls If I had a dollar for every writer I knew who was intimidated by sales calls, I’d have a small fortune. There’s this association that a lot of people have with sales, like it’s a high-pressure negotiation thing where you have to handle objections like a slick used car salesman. Listen, you’re not selling illegal ammunition to the Japanese Yakuza mafia where failure means death. You’re selling writing. The worst case scenario is they say no and move on. Some calls with be a walk in the park. Others will require a little bit more skill. And other calls are impossible to close, even if you’re Grant Cardone or some sort of seasoned veteran sales pro. But here’s what I want you to understand: Every sales call is the same. The context for each individual prospect that you speak to may be a bit different. But, when done right, a sales call is just a repeatable conversation with a clear starting point and ending point. You're talking to another human being about their problems and whether you can help solve them. That's it. Just two people having a straightforward conversation about whether working together makes sense. In fact, the best sales calls don't feel like sales calls at all. They feel like a conversation with a friend who happens to be really good at something you need help with. The person walks away feeling understood, not sold to. And if it's the right fit, they're excited to work with you. If it's not the right fit, you both part ways amicably and move on with your lives. So let me walk you through exactly how to run these calls. Every good sales call follows a simple structure. You can refer to the Easy Close Sales Call Script on your resources page if you’d like the exact wording of what to say, or you can just follow this loose framework. Step 1: Build Rapport (2-5 minutes) Start the call by being a human being. Don't launch straight into business. Take a few minutes to connect. Ask them how their day is going. If you noticed something interesting on their profile or in their content, mention it. If they're in a different city, ask about the weather or if there's anything interesting going on there. If you got referred by someone, ask them about how they know them. This isn't fake rapport building like we talked about avoiding in outreach. You're about to have a real conversation with this person, and starting with a little warmth sets the tone for everything that follows. Keep it brief though. Two to five minutes max. You don't want to spend half the call talking about the weather. Just enough to break the ice and establish that you're a real person, not a robot reading from a teleprompter. Step 2: Set the Frame (1-2 minutes) After the rapport building, transition into setting expectations for the call. This is important because it lets the prospect know what's going to happen and gives them permission to be honest with you. You want to say something along the lines of,: "So I’m really looking forward to chatting with you. I'd love to learn more about what you're working on inside your business, and what your goals are for your personal brand. I've got some questions to understand your situation better, and then if it seems like I can help, we can chat about that at the end, so if it makes sense for both of us, we can talk about next steps. If not, totally fine, no pressure at all. Sound good?" This frame accomplishes a few things. First, it shows you're organized and professional. Second, it takes pressure off both of you by establishing that "no" is a perfectly acceptable outcome. Third, it positions you as someone who qualifies prospects rather than someone who's desperate for any client they can get. Then what you want to move into is getting them to open up about the content you sent over to them, you’ll ask, “So John, what did you think of that content document I sent over to you?” They’ll respond from there and then you transition into Step 3. Step 3: Discovery Questions (10-25 minutes) This is the most important part of the call. Your job here is to understand their situation deeply. What are their problems? What do they want? What's stopping them from getting it? When they answer your question about the content you sent over, you’ll respond with something like: "Awesome. I’m glad you liked it. Well, tell me a little bit about what you're working on right now. I know with your business you sell (WHAT THEY SELL) how long have you been doing that?” The point of this is to transition the conversation into them talking about themselves and what they do. Honestly, it really doesn’t matter how long they’ve been doing what they do. It’s just meant to transition you out of the intro and into discovery. We break our discovery up into 4 sections: 1. Current Situation (What are you experiencing?) 2. Desired Situation (What do you want?) 3. Gap (What’s holding you back?) 4. Urgency (Why now?) Discovery Phase 1: Current Situation This is where you understand their starting point. Ask questions like: * "So what does your content situation look like right now? Are you posting consistently, or is it more sporadic?" * "Who's handling your content currently? Is it you, someone on your team, or are you working with someone external?" * "What type of results are you seeing?" The goal here is to get them talking about their reality. Not what they wish was happening, but what's actually happening. Listen carefully. Take notes. The details they share here will become important later when you're explaining how you can help. Don't rush this section. Let them talk. People love talking about themselves and their businesses, and the more they share, the better you'll understand whether you can actually help them. Discovery Phase 2: Desired Situation Now you want to understand where they're trying to go. Ask questions like: * "So if we fast forward six months or a year from now, and everything's working exactly how you want it to, what does that look like?" * "What would it mean for your business if your content was actually generating leads and building your authority?" * "What's the bigger picture here? What are you ultimately trying to build?" This is where you get them to paint a picture of their ideal outcome. And here's why this matters: when you understand what someone really wants, you can connect your service directly to that vision. You're not selling writing. You're selling the bridge between where they are and where they want to be. Discovery Phase 3: Gap This is where you identify what's standing in the way. Ask questions like: * "So what do you think is the main thing stopping you from getting there?" * "Why do you think the content hasn't been working as well as you'd like?" * "What have you tried before? What worked, what didn't?" Often, they'll tell you exactly what their problem is. Maybe they don't have time. Maybe they've tried hiring writers before and it didn't work out. Maybe they know they need to be posting more but they can't figure out what to say. Whatever it is, this gap is what your service fills. Discovery Phase 4: Urgency Finally, you want to understand why they're talking to you now. Ask something like: * "So what made you decide to hop on this call today? Why now versus six months ago or six months from now?" * "Is there anything coming up in your business that makes this more pressing?" This question reveals their motivation. Maybe they're launching something new. Maybe they just lost their content person because they had a baby. Maybe they're tired of watching competitors outpace them online. Whatever the answer, it tells you how serious they are about solving this problem. Just let them talk. Don't interrupt. Just listen. Take notes. When they finish, ask follow-up questions to go deeper. I cannot emphasize this enough, the key here is to let them talk. You should be doing maybe 10% of the talking. Don't assume you know their answers. Don't project. Just ask questions and listen. After you've asked all your questions, summarize what you've heard. This shows you were actually listening and gives them a chance to correct anything you misunderstood. When you'll find that people will usually give you one of three answers why they’re talking to you today… 1. "I don't have time to do this myself." - They want someone to take it off their plate so they can focus on other things. 2. "I don't know how to do it well." - They want someone who's better at this than they are. 3. "I've tried but I can't get my ideas out of my head and onto paper." - They want someone who can extract their wisdom and turn it into content. Understanding which of these is their primary driver helps you position your solution correctly when you get to that part of the call. Step 4: Summarize and Confirm (2-3 minutes) Once you've gone through discovery, you should have a clear picture of their situation. Now you need to summarize what you've heard and confirm you've understood them correctly before moving forward. Say something like: "Okay, so let me make sure I've got this right. You're currently doing X, but you want to be doing Y. The main thing holding you back is Z, and you're looking to solve this now because of [urgency reason]. Does that sound about right?" This does two things. First, it shows them you were actually listening, which, sadly, already puts you ahead of most people they talk to. Second, it gets them to verbally confirm their problem, which psychologically commits them to wanting a solution. If you got something wrong, they'll correct you. That's fine. Better to clarify now than to pitch something that doesn't match what they actually need. Once they confirm, you transition with something like: "Cool. Well, based on everything you've shared, I think I can definitely help with this. Mind if I talk a bit about how I think I can help?” They'll say yes. They always say yes. If someone said no to you that would actually be hilarious, but they’re 99.99999% just going to say yes and now you have permission to pitch. Step 5: Present Your Solution (5-10 minutes) This is where you explain what you do and how it solves their specific problem. Notice I said their specific problem, not some generic pitch you give everyone. Take what you learned in discovery and connect it directly to your service. Remember those three common reasons people hop on these calls? If they said they don't have time, emphasize how you handle everything so they don't have to think about it. "Based on what you shared about how busy you are with [whatever they mentioned], here's how I'd take content completely off your plate..." If they said they don't know how to do it well, emphasize your expertise and process. "You mentioned you've been posting but not seeing the results you want. Here's why that's probably happening and how my approach is different..." If they said they can't get their ideas out of their head, emphasize your extraction process. "You mentioned having all these ideas but struggling to articulate them. That's actually really common with experts in your position. Here's how I pull that wisdom out of you..." Walk them through what working together actually looks like: * What you'll deliver and how often * How the process works from their end (calls, reviews, approvals) * What kind of timeline they can expect * What results look like when it's working Keep it conversational. You're not reading a brochure at them. You're explaining how you're going to solve the problem they just told you about. Connect every part of your service back to something they said in discovery. This makes the solution feel custom, even if you offer the same thing to everyone. Here’s an example of a break down: "So based on everything you've shared, here's what I'm thinking. You mentioned the biggest issue is that you've got a million ideas floating around in your head, but between running the agency and managing your team, you just don't have the bandwidth to sit down and turn those into actual content. And when you do try, it takes you three hours to write something that still doesn't feel quite right. So here's how I'd solve that for you. Every other week, we'd hop on a 45-minute call. I'd come prepared with questions based on what's happening in your industry, what your audience is asking about, and any launches or priorities you've got coming up. You just show up and talk. I handle the recording, the extraction, all of it. From those calls, I'd produce four LinkedIn posts and one long-form article per week. So you're showing up consistently, daily on LinkedIn, weekly with deeper content, without having to write a single word yourself. Now, I know you don't want to be going in there every day to manage all the engagement. So every single day at the end of the day, we go through and respond to all of your comments for you. And anytime there's something we think would be relevant, someone wanting to connect with you, a potential opportunity we spot. we reach out to you inside Slack. That way you're only getting the highest priority stuff, not getting buried in notifications. The best part is, all the content we're producing, when it goes to your profile page there's going to be a pinned post pushing your newsletter. And we take the content we're producing from LinkedIn and turn it into longer-form newsletters that get sent out to your list. So you're getting the maximum amount of exposure for your message across multiple channels from the same core ideas. Before anything goes live, you see it in a shared doc. Most clients barely make any edits because we nail the voice upfront, but you always have final approval. And we always turn around revisions within 24 hours, nothing's ever held up waiting on us. This is what I find is the best way for you to get those ideas extracted out of your brain without losing focus on running your business. That way you can get your expertise out into the world while still being able to focus on the things you do best. Does that make sense?" Again, this is just an example. The point of what you’re doing here is taking what you discovered about their current situation, their desired situation, and what’s holding them back and then positioning your product as the way to overcome the problems, bridge the gap, and achieve the desired situation. It’s a super easy framework to follow. Step 6: Present Pricing (2-3 minutes) After you've explained what you do, they're going to want to know what it costs. Don't be weird about this. You can usually pull this question out of them after you ask, “Does that make sense?” just ask, “Okay cool, what questions do you have for me?” If they don’t have any questions, then you just ask them, “Okay cool, so last thing would just be to discuss the investment?” and you go from there. Notice how everything is super laid back, nothing is aggressive! You’ll respond with, "So for everything I just described, the strategy interview calls, the weekly content, the newsletters, andthe full management—the investment is $3,000 per month." Then stop talking. This is crucial. After you state the price, shut up. Don't keep selling and don't discount before they've even responded. Just let them process. They'll respond in one of a few ways: * "Okay, that sounds good." Great. Send them over a contract. * "That's more than I expected." Ask, "What were you expecting?" This opens a conversation. (More on objections in a moment) * "I need to think about it." We'll address this in a moment. * *Silence* That's fine. Let them think. Don't fill the silence with nervous talking. When someone has truly connected with what you're offering and sees how it solves their problem, they just say yes. No pushback. No "let me think about it." Just "sounds good, let's do it." That's the goal. And when you've done the discovery phase properly, when you've really understood their situation and connected your solution to their specific needs, objections become rare. But they do happen. So let's talk about how to handle them. First, let's clarify what an objection actually is. Someone asking a question to understand something better is not an objection. That's just them needing clarity, and you should welcome those questions. An objection is when someone is deciding not to buy and telling you why. "I'm not going to do this because..." That's an objection. The Two Types of Objections There are really only two situations you'll run into. The first type is a legitimate logistical objection. "I need to talk to my business partner." "I have to fire my current copywriter first." "We're in the middle of a product launch and I can't focus on this until Q1." These are real things that prevent someone from moving forward right now. This is super important to understand: you're not going to handle this on a call. It requires them to go do something. And if you push too hard here, if you try to force them to close on the spot, you'll actually push them away. It makes you look desperate. Nobody wants to work with someone who seems desperate. The second type of objection is a smokescreen. This is when someone throws up an objection not because it's a real barrier, but because they don't want to make a decision right then and there. They're looking for an exit. How to Tell the Difference Here's the question that reveals which type you're dealing with: "Okay, totally understand where you're coming from. So outside of [whatever they said], is there anything else that's stopping you from pulling the trigger today?" This question is crucial because they might not have one objection. They might have three, but they're only thinking of one. When you ask this, they might say, "Well, actually, I also think it's a little expensive." Now you know there's more going on. If they say no, that's the only thing, you can focus on that one issue. But you've got to surface everything first. You can't handle objections you don't know about. If it's a real logistical thing, your job is to push for a follow-up call. Let's say they tell you, "I need to talk to my business partner." You respond: "Okay, when do you think you'll be able to talk to them?" "I'll reach out to him tomorrow." "Cool. Well, why don't we just book a call for Wednesday to talk next steps?" Even better, try this: "I totally understand. Here's the thing though, there's often a game of telephone that happens where things get lost in translation. Your partner might have questions I could answer directly. Would it make sense to get all three of us on a call together? That way you can give him the rundown, and then I can fill in any gaps and answer his questions. Would that work?" You're not being pushy. You're being helpful. And you're moving things forward instead of letting them drift into the void. Handling Price Objections When someone objects to the price, how you handle it depends on who you're talking to. By this point in the call, you should have a sense of what type of person they are. There are really four personality types you'll encounter: The Ruby: Aggressive, entrepreneurial, go-go-go. These are your classic driven founders and executives. If you got into an argument with a Ruby, they'd shout and get confrontational. The Sapphire: Fun, friendly, expressive. Very people-oriented. In a conflict, they'd get their feelings hurt. "I feel like you're not hearing me..." The Emerald: Analytical, data-driven, accountant-minded. In a disagreement, they'd lay out the facts. "This happened, then this happened, therefore..." The Pearl: Soft, gentle, conflict-averse. In a confrontation, they'd probably go quiet and shut down. When a price objection comes up, tailor your response to who you're talking to: For Rubies: Focus on ROI, status, and bottom-line impact. "Here's what this is going to do for your revenue. Here's the return you'll see. Here's how it positions you in the market." For Sapphires: Touch on the Ruby points, but emphasize feelings. "Think about how it's going to feel having this completely off your plate. What would it mean to finally have this box checked? What is it specifically that you don't feel certain about?" For Emeralds: Focus on the data and the logic. "What about the numbers doesn't make sense to you? Let's walk through the math together." They need to understand the specifics before they can commit. For Pearls: Back off a little. They might just feel pressured, and pushing harder will make it worse. Give them space. Let them come to the decision themselves. Here's the reality: there's no magic line you can say that makes objections disappear. Remember, you're not trying to sell someone a one-time transaction for $1,000. You're trying to build a relationship that lasts a year or more. That's really hard to do when the person feels like they got roped into something through your cunning sales ability. If you've handled the objections and they’re still not in, that's a signal. At some point, you need to lean back and say: "Look man, if you're not certain this is the right thing for you, I don't want to force you into it. I've explained what we do, the results we get, how we can help. But if you don't feel like it's what you need, no worries at all." If they're not a good fit, they're not a good fit. You might be able to pressure them into signing, but then they'll quit in a week or two. They'll be a nightmare client. The best clients have little to no objections. Those are the ones you want. Don't waste your energy trying to convince people who clearly aren't ready. Last but not least, it’s important to understand that sales calls are a lot like writing. The way you get better is by doing them. Don't overthink them. The worst thing you can do is get in your head about it. Just have conversations with people. Ask about their situation. Explain how you can help. Quote a price. See what happens. Study the Easy Close Sales Call Script in your resources if you want exact language. But understand that at the end of the day, it's just a conversation between two business owners, one who wants to solve a problem, and the other who can help solve that problem. Part 6: How To Keep Clients Now, getting a client is only half the battle. Keeping them is where the real money is made. I've seen this pattern play out dozens of times. A writer lands a great client, does solid work, and then three months later they're back to square one, hunting for the next one. Meanwhile, another writer with the same skills, same type of client, same deliverables, keeps that client for two years and gets three referrals from them. The difference isn't talent. It's not even the quality of the writing. It's everything that happens around the writing. Let me tell you a tale of two Growth Writers… Tommy signs a new client. He's pumped. First real client at $2,000 a month. He runs the onboarding call, schedules the first strategy interview, gets on the call, records it, and produces the first batch of content. Good stuff. Client approves it. Content goes live. Then Tommy disappears. Not intentionally. He's not trying to neglect anyone. He's just busy. He's got other prospects to chase. He figures the client is happy because they approved the content, so everything must be fine. He delivers the next batch. Client approves. He delivers again. Approve. Deliver. Approve. Ninety days go by. In that entire time, Tommy has sent maybe fifteen messages to this client, and every single one of them was a content delivery or an invoice. No check-ins. No reports. No "hey, how's the content performing?" No ideas outside of what he was asked to produce. No relationship building whatsoever. The client, meanwhile, has no idea if any of this is working. They see content going out, but they don't know what's happening with it. Their impressions are up, but nobody's told them that. Their engagement rate has improved by 40%, but they have no clue. All they see is $2,000 leaving their bank account every month. When their CFO asks, "What are we getting for this content expense?" they don't have an answer. When their business partner questions whether they should keep paying for this, they can't justify it. They liked Tommy. They thought the content was fine. But they have nothing to show for it. At the end of month three, they cancel. Tommy made $6,000. Now he's back to square one, burning time on outreach, burning energy on sales calls, burning through the emotional rollercoaster of trying to close new business. All because he treated a relationship like a transaction. And here's the thing about transactions: they end as soon as one party stops feeling like they're getting their money's worth. There's no loyalty in a transaction. There's no benefit of the doubt. There's no "let's give it another month and see." It's pure calculation. And the moment that calculation tips the wrong way, it's over. Now let's look at John. John signs the same type of client. Same industry. Same retainer. Same deliverables. He runs the onboarding call, schedules the first strategy interview, and gets on the call. But here's where things diverge. The moment that interview ends, before he's even started writing anything, John sends a message: "Hey man, that was awesome. I loved hearing about your approach to [specific thing they discussed on the call]. The story about how you handled that nightmare client situation is gold, we're definitely turning that into a post. I'm going to have the first batch of content over to you in 2-3 days. Excited to get this rolling." It's a small thing. Takes sixty seconds to write. But it does something important: it tells the client that John was actually listening. That he's engaged. That he gives a damn. Most people don't do this. Most people end the call and the client doesn't hear from them until the content shows up. John is different, and the client notices. Then John delivers early. Not just on time. Early. The client expected content in three days, it shows up in two. And there's more than they expected. "Threw in a couple extra ideas I had while writing. No charge, just thought these angles could work really well for what you're trying to do." Now the client is thinking, "Okay, this guy is actually invested in this." Between content batches, John stays present. He sends ideas. Not full pieces of content, just sparks. "Hey, saw this news in your industry this morning. Could be a good angle for next week, thought of you when I read it." Or, "Random thought: you mentioned on our last call that you're launching that new service tier in Q2. Want me to start thinking about how to seed that into the content?" He's thinking about the client even when he's not actively working on their stuff. And the client can feel it. At the end of every week, John does something that almost no one does. He screenshots the results. Opens up LinkedIn analytics. Grabs the impressions, the engagement numbers, the follower growth. He puts them in a simple document, a Google Doc, nothing fancy, with a few bullet points: * Impressions this week: 47,000 (up 23% from last week) * Top performing post: The one about hiring mistakes, 312 reactions * Follower growth: +89 new followers * What I'm noticing: The storytelling posts are outperforming the tactical ones. Going to lean into that more next week. * Ideas for next week: Want to try a post about your contrarian take on funding. Think that could hit. He sends this over every Friday. Takes him fifteen minutes to put together. But now the client has something tangible. They can see it's working. They have numbers. They have proof. When the CFO asks what they're getting for their content spend, the client pulls up the doc. "We've grown our audience by 400 followers in the past month. Impressions are up 60%. We're getting inbound leads mentioning they saw my posts." Now it's not a question of whether to keep paying. It's obvious. Over the next few months, John builds out a simple dashboard. Nothing complicated. A spreadsheet that tracks audience growth and impression trends over time. A visual representation of progress. Now when the client presents to their board, they have a slide. When they talk to investors, they have data. John has made his value undeniable. Twelve months later, John still has that client. Same client, same retainer, month after month. That's not $6,000. That's $24,000 from a single relationship. And because the client is so happy, they've referred John to two other founders in their network. That's another $48,000 in annual revenue, all because John treated the relationship like it mattered. The difference between Tommy and John isn't some special gift that John has. It's not that John is a better writer. It's that John understood something Tommy didn't. Tommy created a transaction. John created a partnership. If this story teaches you anything, it should be that you need to stop thinking of these people as clients and start thinking of them as friends. I don't mean fake friendship. I'm not talking about pretending to care so you can extract more money from them. That's gross and people can smell it a mile away. I mean genuine care about them as human beings. Pay attention to what's going on in their lives. Remember the things they tell you. Celebrate their wins with them. Support them through the hard stuff. This requires you to actually listen on your calls. When they mention their kid's soccer game, remember it. When they talk about a vacation they're planning, ask about it later. When they share a struggle they're dealing with in the business, follow up on it. Most business owners are surrounded by people who want something from them. Vendors want their money. Contractors want their approval. Employees want raises. Investors want returns. Everyone has an angle. Everyone is transactional. When you show up as someone who genuinely cares about them as a person, you become a different category entirely. You're not a vendor anymore. You're someone they actually like talking to. Someone they want to keep around, not just because of what you deliver, but because of who you are to them. This changes everything about how the relationship works. When you're a vendor, the client is always evaluating. Always asking, "Is this worth it? Should I find someone cheaper? Is there someone better out there?" It's exhausting for both of you. When you're a friend who happens to do great work for them, that evaluation stops. They're not looking for someone else because they don't want someone else. They like working with you. You make their life better, not just their LinkedIn page. The single biggest reason clients churn is that they feel ignored. They feel like once they signed the contract, they became an afterthought. Like they're just another invoice in your system. You have to actively fight against this. And the way you fight against it is by communicating more than you think you need to. After every strategy interview, send a message highlighting something specific you're excited about. "That story you told about the time your co-founder almost quit, that's going to make an incredible post. Can't wait to write it." When you deliver content, don't just dump files in a shared folder. Send a note with it. "Here's this week's batch. Really proud of the one about pricing strategy. I think that's going to resonate hard with your audience." When you see their content performing well, tell them. "Hey, just saw that post from yesterday cracked 200 reactions. That's your best performer in the last month. Nice work." When you have ideas between deliveries, share them. Not in a "here's more work for you to approve" way, but in a "I'm always thinking about your brand" way. "Random idea: what if we did a series on lessons you learned from your worst clients? Could be really engaging." Every message you send is a reminder that you're present, that you're paying attention, that you care about their success. Silence, on the other hand, communicates the opposite. When they don't hear from you, they assume you're not thinking about them. And when they assume you're not thinking about them, they start thinking about replacing you. I mentioned this in John's story, but I want to emphasize it because it's one of the highest-leverage things you can do. Send a weekly report. Every single week. No exceptions. It doesn't have to be fancy. A simple Google Doc works fine. Include: 1. Key metrics from the week – impressions, engagement, follower growth, whatever matters for this client 2. Top performing content – what worked best and a quick thought on why 3. Observations – patterns you're noticing, things you want to test, ideas for optimization 4. What's coming next week – a preview of what you're planning This takes fifteen to twenty minutes once you have a template. And it completely transforms the client relationship. Here's why it matters: First, it gives the client proof that what you're doing is working. They can see the numbers going up. They can point to specific wins. When someone in their organization questions the expense, they have ammunition. Second, it positions you as a strategic partner, not just a content creator. You're not just producing words. You're analyzing results, making observations, optimizing the approach. That's way more valuable than someone who just writes and delivers. Third, it creates a regular touchpoint that keeps you top of mind. Even in weeks where you don't have much direct communication, they're hearing from you. They know you're paying attention. Fourth, it builds a track record over time. After six months of weekly reports, you have a documented history of growth. You can look back and show them, "When we started, you were getting 5,000 impressions a week. Now you're getting 50,000." That's incredibly powerful for retention and for getting them to refer you to others. Some Growth Writers take this even further and build out simple dashboards. A spreadsheet with charts showing growth over time. Nothing that requires technical skills, just basic spreadsheet charts that visualize the progress. When the client can see a line going up and to the right, they feel good about their investment. They want to keep that line going. Business owners have lives outside of their business. They have families. They have milestones. They have wins and losses that have nothing to do with LinkedIn impressions. Pay attention to these moments. And when they happen, show up like a friend would. When your client closes a funding round, don't send a formal congratulations email through your project management system. Send them a personal text. "Dude, just saw the news about the Series A. Congrats, that's huge. Drinks on me next time I'm in your city." When they mention they're going on a family vacation, ask how it was when they get back. "How was Costa Rica? Did your kids love it?" When they have a new baby, acknowledge it like a friend would. Not a form letter. Not a "congratulations from all of us at [Your Company Name]." A real message. "Holy shit, congratulations! How are you holding up? Get anysleep yet?" When they land a big client they told you about, ce lebrate with them. "Wait, did you close that deal with [Company Name]? That's amazing. You've been working on that for months." These moments matter. They're the difference between being someone's vendor and being someone's person. And being someone's person is how you stay in their life for years instead of months. This is one of the most underrated retention strategies in existence. Almost nobody does it. Which is exactly why it works so well. I'm not talking about cheap promotional items with your logo on them. Nobody wants another branded pen or stress ball. I'm talking about real gifts. Thoughtful gifts. Gifts that show you were actually paying attention. Onboarding gifts: When a new client signs up, send them something within the first week. Before they've even seen your first piece of content. This sets the tone for the entire relationship. It says, "I'm excited to work with you, and I'm going to treat you right." What to send: High-quality snacks from a place like Mouth.com. A nice notebook and pen. A book that's relevant to their industry or something they mentioned they're interested in. Something from their local city if you know where they're based. Keep it in the $30-50 range. Enough to be meaningful, not so much that it's weird. Milestone gifts: When they hit meaningful milestones, acknowledge it with something tangible. Hit 10,000 followers? Send something. Land a big client they told you about? Send something. Get featured in a publication? Send something. Launch a product they've been working on? Send something. The gift doesn't have to be related to the milestone. It just has to show you were paying attention and you care. A bottle of nice wine. A gift card to a great restaurant in their city. Something related to a hobby they mentioned. Personal life gifts: These are the most powerful ones. When something meaningful happens in their personal life, showing up with a gift creates a bond that's nearly unbreakable. New baby? This is a huge opportunity. Don't send a generic baby gift. Send something memorable. I've seen Growth Writers send onesies with the client's LinkedIn profile picture printed on them. The client laughs, shows their spouse, probably takes a photo, maybe posts it. It becomes a story they tell. "My content guy sent the most hilarious thing when our daughter was born." Now you're not just someone they work with. You're a character in their life story. Think about it from their perspective. They're getting dozens of cold pitches from other writers and agencies. They've thought about whether they should shop around for a better rate. But then they think about you, the person who sent that hilarious onesie, the person who texted them when they closed their funding round, the person who noticed when they were having a hard time. They don't want to leave that. Even if someone offers them a slightly better price, they'll stay because of the relationship. This is what takes you from keeping clients for 1-3 months to keeping them for 12 months and beyond. The content gets them in the door. The relationship keeps them there. Now, let's do some simple math, because the numbers here are genuinely life-changing. Scenario A: High Churn You're constantly cycling through clients. You sign someone at $3,000 a month, they stick around for 2-3 months on average, then they leave. Each client is worth $6,000-$9,000 in lifetime value. To make $15,000 a month consistently, you need to have 5 clients at any given time. But since you're losing 1-2 clients every quarter, you need to sign 4-8 new clients per year just to stay even. That means you're constantly doing outreach, constantly on sales calls, constantly onboarding new people and learning new voices and new industries. It's exhausting. You're always hunting. And because you're spending so much time acquiring clients, you don't have time to do the things that would make them stay longer. It's a vicious cycle. Scenario B: Strong Retention You build genuine relationships. You send weekly reports. You communicate like you care. You acknowledge milestones. You send gifts. Your average client stays for 12 months instead of 3. Now that same $3,000 client is worth $36,000 in lifetime value. Four times as much from the exact same initial sale. To make $15,000 a month, you still need 5 clients. But now you only need to sign 5-6 new clients per year instead of 8. That's half the sales calls. Half the outreach. Half the onboarding. Half the stress. But it's even better than that. After the first month or two with a client, the work gets easier. You know their voice. You know their stories. You know what performs well for them. You're not constantly ramping up. The content production becomes more efficient, which means you either make more money per hour or you have more time to focus on other things. And then there's referrals. Long-term clients refer you to other people. They become advocates for your business. They tell their founder friends, "You should work with my content person, they're amazing." They post about you on social media. They introduce you to people at events. These referrals are the highest-quality leads you'll ever get. They come pre-sold. They already trust you because someone they trust vouched for you. The sales cycle is shorter. The close rate is higher. They're often willing to pay more because they've heard great things. When you do the math on referrals, the numbers get almost absurd. One long-term client who refers you to two other people doesn't just represent $36,000 in lifetime value. They represent $36,000 plus two more clients at $36,000 each. That's $108,000 in total value from one initial client acquisition. This is how you build a real business. Not by churning through an endless stream of short-term clients, but by building deep relationships that last for years and compound over time. I want to be clear about something. I'm not telling you to fake caring about your clients so you can extract more money from them. That's not what this is about. If you're the kind of person who sees clients purely as revenue sources to be optimized, this section isn't going to work for you. People can sense inauthenticity. They know when they're being manipulated. And even if you fool them for a while, it catches up with you eventually. What I'm telling you is this: if you genuinely care about the people you work with, and you express that care through your actions, good things happen. Relationships deepen. Clients stay longer. Referrals flow. Your business becomes more stable and more profitable. The gifts, the texts, the weekly reports, the personal acknowledgments, these aren't tactics to trick people into staying. They're expressions of a genuine orientation toward your clients. They're what caring looks like in practice. And when you operate this way, work becomes more enjoyable too. You're not grinding through a client roster of strangers. You're working with people you actually like, people whose wins feel like your wins, people you're genuinely rooting for. That's a much better way to spend your days. So yes, the math makes sense. Retention is more profitable than churn. But beyond the math, this is just a better way to do business. It's more fun, more meaningful, and more sustainable. Treat your clients like friends. Communicate like you give a damn. Celebrate their milestones. Send thoughtful gifts. Show up as a real person, not a faceless vendor. Do that, and they'll never want to leave. Part 7: Summary And Next Steps You now have everything you need. If you've read this entire playbook, you understand the belief shift. You know that you're not selling writing, you're selling growth. You understand the mental barriers that hold most writers back and how to break through them. You have a complete outreach strategy that actually works. You know how to handle responses and book calls. You know how to run sales calls that close. And you know how to keep clients for years instead of months. This is the whole playbook. No secrets held back. No "buy my course to get the real stuff." This is it. The question now is: What are you going to do with it? The way I see it, there are three types of people reading this right now. This is the person who just spent all this time going through the material, maybe watched the videos, read every word, took some notes... and then does absolutely nothing with it. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. If that's you, the reason is simple: you don't want it bad enough. You don't really want the freedom. You don't really want the income. Because when you truly want something, when you want it the way you want to eat when you're starving, you don't need motivation. You don't need someone to push you. You just do it. Think about it. Do I have to force you to think about wanting to eat? No. You just want to eat. You have to eat. It's not a question of willpower or discipline. It's just what you do because you need it. When you want this life, this freedom, this income, as bad as you want to eat, you'll take action without anyone telling you to. You won't be able to stop yourself. Don't be Person #1. Don't let this playbook become another PDF sitting in a folder somewhere, collecting digital dust while you stay stuck exactly where you are. This is the person who's going to take everything I've laid out and go apply it themselves. No help. No program. Just raw execution based on what's in this guide. If that's you, you're already in a better position than Person #1. At least you're taking action. And honestly? Some people make this work completely on their own. It's possible. But I need you to understand what you're signing up for. The number one thing that's going to hold you back is motivation. Staying motivated throughout the entire process. Not getting distracted. Not quitting when it gets hard. Not losing steam after a few weeks of outreach with no responses. You're going to run into bottlenecks. You're going to run into issues you don't know how to solve. You're going to have questions that this playbook doesn't answer. You're going to get stuck, and you're going to have to figure it out alone. Some people do. But most people don't. Most people start strong, hit a wall, and slowly fade back into whatever they were doing before. Not because they're lazy. Not because they're not talented. But because doing hard things alone is really, really hard. This is the person who decides they don't want to figure it all out on their own. The person who wants accountability. The person who wants coaching and guidance from people who've already done this and can help them get to the other side faster. These are the people who work with us inside Growth Ghost. Yes, we teach you things that aren't in this playbook. How to actually deliver the service at a high level. How to grow your own personal brand so clients start coming to you. How to do research for clients. How to write threads, how to write on X, how to write on LinkedIn, how to do newsletters. All the tactical stuff that makes you great at the craft. But honestly? That's not the real value. The real value is having someone in your corner. Having accountability so you actually do the work. Having coaches who can look at your specific situation and tell you exactly what to do next. Having a community of people on the same journey so you don't feel like you're doing this alone. That's what makes the difference. That's why Person #3 gets results faster and more consistently than Person #2. Here's our commitment to you, and it's simple: If you join Growth Ghost, within 90 days, we guarantee you will land your first Growth Writing client at a minimum of $3,000 to $5,000 per month. And if we can't help you do that? We'll refund you in full. No questions asked. We're putting our money where our mouth is because we know this works. We've seen it work over and over again. And we're confident enough in our ability to help you that we're willing to take on all the risk. If you're Person #3, if you're ready to get serious, if you want help making this happen faster and with less pain, the next step is simple. Click the button below. Fill out the application. You'll get more details about the program, and if it's a fit, we'll talk. That's it. You've got the playbook. You know what's possible. Now it's just a question of what you're going to do about it.